Carl Koenemann

It appears that three different parties are competing for Nokia’s map technology. The interested parties include a partnership between Baidu and Uber, a consortium German carmakers, and Tencent out of China. However, the CEO of the Finish company, Rajeev Suri has publicly stated that Nokia is not in any rush to sell Here, its mapping services unit. The interest for the technology has been ramping up, but it seems that they are waiting it out fore even higher bids.

Whichever party does pony up for the Here technology could gain an upper hand in the next transformation within the auto industry. Mapping technology is currently valued at such a premium because it is absolutely essential in developing driverless car technology and products.

Here is considered to be the best technology on the market, but TomTom and, obviously, Google Maps make up their chief competitors.

Nokia has been shopping Here around the open market for over a month now, and has received bids as high as $3 billion. Here, which boasts international offices in both Chicago and Berlin, stems from Navteq. Nokia purchased the American firm Navteq in 2008 for more than $6 billion.

The group made up of German automobile manufacturers including Audi, BMW, and Daimler have teamed up the General Atlantic to make a bid at some point in the middle of May. Nokia leadership is expected to make a final decision regarding this bid in June.

The tech-giant Uber is interested in Here to expedite the development of driverless cars

Uber and Baidu have teamed up to make an offer of $3 billion for the mapping system. Industry experts believe Uber is interested in the tech so it can begin deploying driverless taxis on streets across the world. If successful, Uber would eliminate many costs associated to its drivers.

Here possesses several intriguing products for its suitors including a feature called HD Live Map, a cutting edge HD mapping serve. Furthermore, the Here team is in the midst of creating a system that can learn from people’s actual driving habits.

Industry analysts believe that Here will earn more than $650 million in 2015 alone. This number is more than ten-fold high than that of TomTom’s expected revenue.

Ryanair, a discount airline that is popular, and infamous, in some circles, has announced recently that it is considering establishing ultra-discounted cross-Atlantic flights. Some believe these flights, which are at least four years away from fruition, could be as astoundingly cheap as $10 per one-way ticket. Ryanair known for its unconventional business practices could simply be trying to garner attention. Regardless, the prospect of this new competition strikes fear into some of the largest European airlines given the difficulties they are already experiencing maintaining revenue in their continent and abroad.

Officials from the Dublin-based airline, confirmed that the Ryanair board approved these plans. Company leadership sees this opportunity as the logical next step as the demand for cheap airfare between Europe and America is higher than ever.

The Dublin-based Ryan Air could shake up the market with their new ultra cheap transatlantic airfare

The more nimble airlines are already offering airfares around the $100 mark, but it remains to be seen if Ryanair can make their business model operate effectively on a truly global scale. Another discount European airline, Norwegian Air Shuttle currently operates flights to America including six major cities from European cities such as Stockholm, Copenhagen, and the outskirts of London. Norwegian Air Shuttle offers one-way tickets as low as $240. The Icelandic Airline, WOW, the Canadian Airline WestJet, and Lufthansa are already offering similarly cheap tickets from Europe to America. However, analysts are uncertain how sustainable these offerings are given the difficulties to make a long-term profit charging such a low fee.

Cheap long-distance flights have long been immensely appealing to airlines, but are a tricky ordeal for a number of reasons. The combination of balancing costs, managing logistics, and making the planes comfortable enough for long flights has proved difficult to master. Analysts point out that, while young travelers may be willing sacrifice comfort, those travelling for business are unlikely to opt for such flights. In response to this, Ryanair officials have stated that it would begin to offer business class and premium seating, breaking from the one-class seating model it has employed for years.

Carl Koenemann

Carl has worked in the financial sector for five years. Outside of work, Carl Koenemann enjoys a healthy lifestyle. His Italian grandmother taught him how to cook when he was just a young kid; he has developed a passion for cooking. Now, Carl has a bunch of his own "secret" recipes in his cupboard.

Besides that, Carl loves music. He began listening to Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton when he was very young - soon, he picked up the saxophone. His true love, however, is the guitar. He began taking lessons in sixth grade and hasn't put it down since. Now, you can find him playing every Sunday at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Palatine, Illinois.